Diseases and/or conditions of the Central Nervous System (CNS) affect a large number of people. One of the CNS disorders, schizophrenia, is a debilitating disorder afflicting 1% of the world's population. The development of effective medications to treat schizophrenia relies on advances in characterizing the underlying pathophysiology.
Conventional approaches to treating schizophrenia and other CNS disorders have significant disadvantages, including suboptimal efficacy and/or side effects associated with their use. For example, existing first and second generation antipsychotic agents have a number of shortcomings and significant side effects, such as extrapyramidal side effects, endocrine effects, obesity, elevated triglycerides, blood pressure and glucose levels, type II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, renal toxicity and agranulocytosis. Thus, it is desirable to develop novel agents that can improve treatment outcomes and safety.
Accordingly, there is a significant need for new therapeutical agents to treat disorders of the CNS.